Search for justice over the death of Welsh journalist
Chief reporter Martin Shipton looks at the latest development in the case of a Welsh journalist who died in mysterious circumstances in 1989
CAMPAIGNERS convinced that a Welsh photojournalist was murdered in 1989 on the orders of senior political figures in Romania are appalled at plans to destroy what they regard as a crime scene in a remote part of the country.
Ian Parry died in December 1989 when the aircraft he was flying in was shot down by a missile, days after Romania’s Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown and killed.
Now the desolate forest where the plane crashed – about an hour’s drive from the Romanian capital, Bucharest – is to be cleared, with all the timber sold off by auction in preparation for the site to be redeveloped.
Parry, 24, from Prestatyn, was working in Bucharest during the uprising on a commission from The Sunday Times. In the midst of the troubles, he decided to return to London with his pictures, making the first leg of his journey on an aircraft that left Bucharest on December 28 1989.
The aircraft, with a crew of six and Parry the only passenger, was on a humanitarian mission to collect blood from Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia. But within 12 minutes of take-off it plunged into the forest killing all on board.
The authorities in Romania put the crash down to ice on the aircraft’s wings, but very quickly there were doubts. Two witnesses living near the crash site at Malinosa forest said the plane was already on fire with a broken tail before it crashed. Eye witnesses also mentioned seeing soldiers and helicopters arrive on the scene within 15 minutes of the crash and showing more concern for documents and other items from the aircraft than for the passenger and crew.
The belief, ever since the plane crash, is that Parry was silenced on the orders of key figures in Romania’s new leadership, because of the photos and documents he was carrying back to the west.
Welsh journalist John Stevenson, who has made two TV programmes on the case, said: “One of the suspects is now dead but another is still alive. That is why this crucial crime scene must be preserved for protecting evidence for a future prosecution.
“A person I have worked with has recently conducted metal detector searches on the site and tells me he has found many pieces of jagged metal. This contrasts sharply with the official line that the authorities conducted a complete forensic search of the site after the crash.
“One twist to this story is the fact that the Malinosa forest is barely 40 miles from Targoviste, which three days earlier was where Ceaucescu and his wife were executed by firing squad.
“The fact is that the plane deaths have never been taken seriously by successive governments, either in Romania or here in the West. One reason for such reluctance may be that Romania, since the revolution, has become a key part of Nato defence strategy, given its proximity to Russia at the North of the Black Sea. That feeds a sense of arrogant impunity, which has characterised Romanian politics over many decades.
“Advice from a legal practitioner at Alexandu Ion Cuza University in Iasi, northern Romania is clear.
“The Court of Cassation, which is the country’s highest judicial body, can order that the site clearance be stopped.”
A report on the crash published by the Flight Safety Foundation said: “The probable cause which determined the crash of the AN-24 aircraft ... near the Visina village, Dimbovita county is the action of a force outside the aircraft, including the possibility of impact with a foreign object located outside of it and in its flight trajectory, in the area of the left horizontal stabiliser, which is appreciated to have weakened the structure of the left horizontal stabiliser, to have caused an uncommanded and sudden trim of the horizontal stabiliser and a jam in this position, causing the aircraft to enter a dive and the impossibility of the flight crew to actuate the flight controls [in such a manner] to regain control of the flight trajectory, due to reasons independent of the aircraft as well as the will and actions of the crew.”
The overthrow of Ceausescu was a pivotal moment in eastern Europe, as people rebelled against tyrannical regimes that had repressed them for decades.
Yet in Romania the transition was not peaceful and Ceausescu’s successor as president, Ion Iliescu, is now facing charges of crimes against humanity together with 13 other regime figures arising out of an investigation into a number of incidents that occurred in the aftermath of the uprising.
One of the incidents took place in June 1990 against the background of violent clashes in Bucharest. President Iliescu blamed the right wing for attempting a coup and called on civilians to defend what he called the “democratic institutions of the state”.
In response to the call, thousands of miners came to Bucharest and stormed the university building, the headquarters of opposition parties and of independent newspapers.
The toll of the violent clashes was four officially recorded deaths, hundreds of wounded and more than 1,000 people arrested abusively.
The military prosecutors’ indictment states that forces of the Interior Ministry, the Defence Ministry and Intelligence Service units were illegally involved in this attack as well as over 10,000 miners and other workers.
Among other things, Iliescu is accused of having ordered the army to use war armaments and live ammunition against civilians.
In June, Iliescu, 87, was sent for trial at the Court of Cassation. It remains pending.